


unspoken words and much needed hugs

by FyreLily



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Gen, How Do I Tag, Nora Valkyrie Is A Mom, Oscar Pine Needs a Hug, acceptance of death ig, c'mon crwby let oscar have feelings, i dont know if you can be sad in a good way, i put that on every fic, if oscar pine being sad makes you sad, minor death mention, nora basically adopts oscar, oscar pine has low self-esteem, oscar pine is a sad boi, please don't read then!, there is not that much bumblebee, there is not that much renora, there is not that much whiterose, unless it's sad in a good way, very small, why did i forget those tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27218290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyreLily/pseuds/FyreLily
Summary: Nora Valkyrie is rarely at a loss for words. But during a war with the queen of darkness, in a place where magic apparently exists, with a girl who can turn monsters to stone with her eyeballs, and a boy who has her old headmaster's soul inside of him (she's still a bit fuzzy on that one), the unthinkable can happen as well.The fact that one of her favorite people in the world is willing to give himself up to said queen of darkness is probably a contributing factor, though.---i was trying to write 3 whole fics in the 2 weeks before v8 comes out i'm sorry if it's rushed.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Oscar Pine & Everyone, Oscar Pine & Nora Valkyrie, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 10
Kudos: 91





	unspoken words and much needed hugs

**Author's Note:**

> please remember to read the tags! i know some people hate it when oscar's sad (i do too, but he can't be comforted if he isn't sad first) and i don't want to mess up anybody's day who forgot to read them. enjoy!

_Maybe_ , Nora thinks, _we can get some sleep once we touch down._

Naturally, she and her team do not get any sleep. They end up landing in the outskirts of Mantle, but everyone is restless and very, very awake. Nora turns her head to Ren, sitting beside her, and desperately wills herself not to reach out for his hand. She wishes that he would just tell her what’s going on. They can get through this together. They always have.

While the rift growing between herself and Ren is only growing wider, the one between Yang and Blake is completely gone. The two sit opposite Nora and her team on the airship, leaning against each other and murmuring softly. Nora is happy for them, she really is. It’s not really jealousy that Nora is feeling. More… simple longing. Yeah, something like that.

Jaune sits on Nora’s other side, his eyes closed and his breathing even. Nora knows that he isn’t asleep. Jaune hasn’t been able to sleep properly for days. He’s trying, she can tell that much, but it’s working just as well for him as it is the rest of them. 

Oscar is looking at something on his scroll a few feet away from Jaune. He’s too far away for Nora to see what he’s looking at, but he looks far too tired for someone of 14 years old. Occasionally, he turns his head and mutters into his left shoulder. If it was anyone else, Nora would shrug and say that they were just weird. But this is Oscar. So, he is weird, but he also has an old man in his head. 

Nora inwardly grimaces as she thinks of the wizard that resided inside her ~~(child’s)~~ friend’s head. Ozpin is mysterious, and secretive… and partially responsible for the death of Pyrrha. 

And Oscar is going to become him. 

That is not at all a comforting thought. Maybe Nora should think about something else.

Ruby sits alone, staring at her scroll. Nora may not have the longest attention span, but she’s been watching Ruby out of the corner of her eye for a while now, and she doesn’t miss the glances that the silver-eyed huntress sneaks to Qrow and Weiss. Ruby’s uncle, Qrow, is leaning against the wall, staring at something in his hand. He hasn’t been quite the same since they broke him out of Atlas prison. More… distant, more aloof. Nora understands him better then he will ever realize. They all do. Grief is a tough process. She has experience. 

Weiss herself sneaks looks over at Ruby every couple of minutes, careful to make sure that she is not seen. Clearly, her efforts are in vain. Nora sees all. 

She _especially_ sees all when romance is afoot. 

Nora quickly turns her mind away from the subject of romance. She doesn’t want to think about that right now. There are more important things going on. Like, for instance: how Salem plans to kill them all and take over the world. Yeah, that’s a pretty big issue. Right now, in an airship, there’s nothing she can do for the citizens of Atlas. But if she could just get down there and help-

“Uh… do you guys see that?”

Nora pries herself out of her thoughts and turns her attention to Yang, who is looking out of the window of the airship to a flickering hologram poster on a wall. Usually, these screens would have the daily news, or a report from the Atlas government on them. At the moment, this is not the case. 

Instead, Salem’s face is plastered across Mantle, on every scroll and screen for miles around. When looking out the window, Nora can see people gasping as they tap furiously at their scroll, or look at the person next to them, confused and frightened. 

Nora immediately turns toward Oscar, as if on instinct. She knows that along with Oscar, Ruby will be the most affected by seeing Salem, but Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Qrow (well, maybe not at the moment) have her covered right now. Out of the corner of her eye, Nora sees Ruby’s teammates turn towards their leader, just like she knew they would. 

Momentarily turning away from the farmhand, Nora sees Ren reach over and shake Jaune, who, with his eyes closed, has no idea what is happening. The blonde boy snaps up, and looks at Ren, before looking around the airship, at Nora, and at Oscar. Nora turns back to him. 

Oscar is stock still, his hands shaking just the slightest bit. His eyes are fixated on his scroll. Nora pulls out her own, not surprised to see Salem’s face the moment she opens it. 

All of their eyes are glued to a screen, be it their own scroll or their friend’s. Nora is scared, she realizes. Not just of Salem herself. She’s scared of what Salem could do to the people she cares about. Nora knows this already. It’s kept her awake for many nights, thoughts of what Salem wants to do to her friends. To Ruby. To Oscar. To anyone who stands in her way. Seeing her face so closely brings a throb of fear that is horribly familiar, a fear that she has felt so many times before. This is not the first time she has seen Salem. It’s unlikely that it will be the last.

Nora wills her eyes to stay open as the queen of darkness begins to speak. Her voice is chilling, and cold, and Nora wants to grab all of her friends into a big bear hug and hide them away from it. 

“Hello, people of the kingdom of Atlas. This is a warning.

“You have seen my army. You have seen it’s strength, it’s numbers and power and invincibility with me at the helm. You have seen my warriors. And I have seen your pitiful rebellion.

“I am merciful. I do not wish to take more lives than necessary. So, I have a proposal for you.”

Nora’s heart leaps into her throat, and she can see her friends visibly paling around. She swallows with difficulty, and waits for Salem to continue.

“I will not destroy you and your kingdom, if you give me merely two things.

“Give me the staff of creation.”

Nora grits her teeth. _Not gonna happen, lady!_

“And give me Ozpin.”

Nora’s heart stops. She tries to speak, to say _something_ , to just look up at Oscar, but she’s. Frozen. 

Salem finishes her speech. “I do hope that you are listening, Ozpin. You have put so many lives in danger because of your cowardice. Give up. You cannot win. And I hope that your so-called friends are listening too. You have opposed me in vain, thwarting my messengers over and over again. Give me the staff, and give me the boy, and this will all be over. You have ten hours until I destroy Atlas and take what I want by force. Save who you can, children. You cannot win this war.”

Salem’s face disappears off of the screen. The scroll goes black. 

There is silence that seems to last forever, stretching on into eternity. Yang breaks it after what feels like forever.

“We… we can’t do that. We can’t.”

Immediately, everyone starts talking over one another. 

“Of course not!” Blake shoots back.

“No, we absolutely can’t give him up like that. It’s just stupid,” Ren says. 

The gears in Jaune’s head are clearly moving. “We need to keep Oscar and the staff safe, it’s the-”

Qrow tries and fails to get everyone’s attention. “Hey hey hey, quiet down, we’ve got to think this through-”

Weiss bites her lip. “How are we going to save Atlas? If we don’t meet her demands, she’ll-”

Nora can’t talk. She can’t open her mouth, can’t utter a word. 

“-need to think of another plan, quickly!” Yang says fiercely.

Ruby clenches her fists. “I know, but how can we keep Atlas safe without giving him up, what can we-”

“It’s fine.”

All the voices stop. Eight pairs of eyes turn towards the person who, with a two word sentence, halted them in their tracks. 

Oscar stares back, his face devoid of emotion and his fists clenched. He’s stood up from where he was sitting before.

Nora doesn’t know what to say. Did Oscar just tell them that it was _fine_ for Salem to take him? That couldn’t be right. Maybe she heard him wrong?

“Oscar?” Ruby says tentatively. 

Oscar doesn’t meet her eyes. Nora feels her heart skip a beat.

Qrow looks plain uncomfortable. “Kiddo...?”

Nora sees the slight shake in Oscar’s hands when he speaks again. “Really, just let her have me. I can negotiate with her and say that I’ll give myself up but only if she leaves the staff be. It’s just reasonable.”

“We can’t just give you up! You _know_ what she’ll do to you!” Ruby cries. We’ll find another way to save Atlas, without anyone getting hurt.” 

“Everyone in atlas has a life, a family, and people who care about them. They’re irreplaceable. I’m not. If I- if something happens to me, Oz can just reincarnate into a new vessel. No one else here is disposable.”

Nora’s heart aches. She’s never really been left speechless, but in the last five minutes, she’s come pretty close several times. She just… doesn’t know how to respond.

Jaune. Thank the brothers for Jaune Arc. Wonderful, wonderful, banana-haired Jaune Arc. He speaks where she can’t. 

“Do you… do you really think that?” he asks Oscar.

The farmhand in question refuses to look up. “Yeah. Oz will reincarnate again. No one else will. All the people down there... they matter more than I do. We can’t let them get hurt.”

_How is it possible,_ Nora wonders. _For someone so kind and precious to think so little of himself?_

She still can’t speak, stunned into silence like the rest of them. Qrow is the only one who can form words. 

“Oscar, kid, you matter just as much as-” he starts.

Oscar interrupts. His voice sounds hollow, his words rehearsed. Or maybe they aren’t. Maybe this is something he’s been thinking for a long time now, but never did. Maybe he never could. ”I’ve already accepted that I’m not going to get to be my own person. It’s okay, I’ve gotten over it. The best thing I can do with myself is make sure that no one gets hurt because of me and my selfishness.”

What hurts the most is how he says it. It comes to her mind again, the thought that this speech is rehearsed, and yet it is raw and real. Nora can tell that he’s hurting. That it hurts him to say what he’s telling. 

Oscar finally looks at her. 

Nora has always admired his eyes. She loves her own, but his are truly unique and lovely. She’s never been great at reading people’s eyes (save for maybe Ren) but Oscar’s have always been especially mysterious. 

Right now, Nora can’t speak well, or form the words that she wants to scream from the tallest building in Atlas. But she can see. She holds Oscar’s gaze. He’s forcing himself to say this. He believes that there’s nothing else they can do. He doesn’t want to be taken to Salem. He’s terrified. But he wants to keep people safe. He doesn’t believe that he’s worth any less then any particular person.

But deep down, far enough that even Oscar himself isn’t sure, he does. He turns away. 

Nora has words again. 

She can move, she can speak, and she does. Nora leaps up and tackles Oscar into a gigantic, crushing bear-hug, using her actions to make up for everything she failed to say. “Oscar, we love you. Okay? You matter, so, so much. You aren’t worth any less then anyone else. We want to keep you safe, we want to protect you, because we love you. You’re just as irreplaceable as you think the rest of you are. Being Oz’s reincarnation doesn’t change that.”

It's really, honestly true.

Nora is crying now, maybe just a little bit, and she can see tears falling down Oscar’s face too as he sniffles. 

“We aren’t giving you to Salem. You might think that we should, but tough bananas, because that’s not happening. You are your own person, and you’ve got another thing coming if you think that we won’t do everything in our power to make sure that you get to live your own life.”

Nora leans in to his ear, her arms still wrapped around him. They’re both sobbing. “It’s me,” she whispers. “I’m the thing that's coming.”

Within seconds, everyone has joined the hug. Most of them are crying (Nora, Oscar, Ruby, Weiss, Jaune) and the few that aren’t are squeezing a little extra firmly (Blake, Yang, Ren). 

Nora feels another, smaller pair of arms wrap around her. Oscar is hugging her tightly. She tucks his small head under her neck. 

_That’s it,_ Nora thinks _._

She's adopting the fuck out of Oscar Pine.

**Author's Note:**

> i love my baby boy he's the best. please tell me if i have any typos or anything of the sort. commenting and feedback is always appreciated! [You can find me on twitter @ sapphicscarlett](https://twitter.com/sapphicscarlett) and here's a link to my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/sapphicscarlett)


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